Funding

Monto Exits Stealth, Lands $9 Million to Rethink B2B Payments 

Monto Exits Stealth, Lands $9 Million to Rethink B2B Payments 
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • B2B payments facilitator Monto is exiting stealth with a $9 million funding round.
  • The Seed funding round was led by Scale Venture Partners.
  • The company plans to use the funds to scale its growth in the U.S.

There’s a new entrant in the B2B payments space. B2B payments facilitator Monto emerged from stealth this week, simultaneously announcing a $9 million Seed round.

Scale Venture Partners led the investment, while Verissimo Ventures, F2 Venture Capital, Firsthand Alliance, Room40 Ventures, and individual investors also participated. “Our investment in Monto is the result of years of work focusing on the CFO suite and the intersection with procurement. We are very well aware of the evolution of and pain points in this trillion-plus dollar market,” said Scale Venture Partners’ Alex Niehenke. “Monto is the only company that solves the one-off workflow problem for AR teams. It is the missing piece for any AP platform, without it, suppliers suffer.”

Monto will use today’s funds to further invest in technological improvements, as well as to fuel its U.S. expansion. As a starting point, the company is opening its first U.S. office in New York City.

Founded in Tel Aviv, with offices throughout the globe, Monto seeks to help make ACH and RTP B2B payments collection as easy as tapping a card. Business finance teams can use the company’s payments tool to receive payments from their customers’ third-party payment platforms, AP portal, or supplier portal, including Workday, QuickBooks, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics. The payments simplification helps companies reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and eliminate manual work by consolidating financial data from numerous sources.

Monto’s clients include large enterprises from various industries, including Shutterstock, TechTarget, Miro, and G2. Since launch, the company has helped its customers facilitate nearly $1 billion to buyers in more than 300 portals.

Monto’s founders, Maya Cohen and Nitsan Yerushalmi, previously worked implementing ERP systems in finance departments. “Monto is a strategic decision for CFOs, future-proofing them against a landscape where most, if not all, customers will soon use portals,” said Cohen, who now serves as the company’s CEO. “With Monto, getting paid by customers will be fully automatic, a concept we call ‘zero-touch,’ and we succeed in achieving that by working with, not against, the portals, an important distinction.”

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Pindrop Raises $100 Million to Fight Deepfakes

Pindrop Raises $100 Million to Fight Deepfakes
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Pindrop Security
  • Pindrop raised $100 million in debt financing, boosting its total funding to $318 million in combined debt and equity.
  • Today’s funds come from from Hercules Capital.
  • Since it was founded, Pindrop has analyzed 5.3 billion calls, prevented $2 billion in fraud losses, and detected 104 million spoof calls.

IVR authentication and anti-fraud solutions company Pindrop has raised $100 million in a debt financing round from Hercules Capital. The investment boosts Pindrop’s total funding to $318 million in combined debt and equity.

Pindrop expects the funding will enable it to further develop its technologies, which leverage AI to combat fraud and cyberattacks. The company’s voice security and authentication tools help firms in a range of industries detect fraudsters and authenticate genuine customers at scale.

“We’re pleased to secure this financing with Hercules Capital at such a pivotal moment for Pindrop,” said Pindrop Founder & CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan. “This funding will fuel our ongoing growth and innovation in voice and AI technologies. As cyber threats continue to evolve, our mission to stay ahead of fraudsters and protect our customers is more critical than ever. We’re excited about the future as we remain committed to driving advancements that safeguard major institutions and deliver unparalleled security in the digital age.”

With major advancements in AI developments over the past few years, Pindrop reports that contact center fraud increased by 60% in the last two years, and now sits at its highest level since 2019. The company expects that, by the end of 2024, one in every 730 calls to a contact center will be fraudulent.

In the U.S., as the presidential election draws near, differentiating fact from fiction when it comes to voice spoofing will be critical. Earlier this year, when a deepfake robocall surfaced of President Biden urging New Hampshire voters not to vote during the Democratic primaries, Pindrop was able to identify the Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine used.

“Hercules is incredibly excited to partner with Pindrop as they continue working to transform the AI and voice authentication landscape,” said Hercules Capital Managing Director John Eggbeer. “We’re proud to support their mission of safeguarding major institutions from rising cyberattack threats. This financing will help accelerate their growth and innovation, enabling them to expand their reach and enhance their capabilities in providing robust security solutions.” 

Since it was founded in 2011, Pindrop has analyzed 5.3 billion calls, prevented $2 billion in fraud losses, and detected 104 million spoof calls. Earlier this year, Pindrop released Pindrop Pulse, an audio deepfake detection solution with real time identification, monitoring, and audio deepfake analysis with advanced liveness detection technology. The company also debuted its Pulse Deepfake Warranty, a warranty that reimburses eligible customers if the Pindrop Product Suite fails to detect a deepfake or synthetic voice fraud.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

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ReceiptHero Secures New Funding

ReceiptHero Secures New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, ReceiptHero
  • ReceiptHero announced new funding this week, courtesy of investors including SeedX VC, LifeLine VC, and SuperHero VC, as well as angel investors.
  • The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
  • ReceiptHero made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany.

Finland-based ReceiptHero has secured new funding, the company reported this week. Participating in the round were SuperHero VC, SeedX VC, LifeLine VC, as well as angel investors and team members. The amount of the investment was not disclosed; prior to this week’s announcement, the company had raised more than $6.2 million (€5.7 million) in total capital.

ReceiptHero said that the funding will accelerate the company’s goal of eliminating paper receipts and creating greater value in the data that is available from real-time receipt delivery. To this end, ReceiptHero has stated that its goal is to serve more than a million payment terminals in Europe and the U.K., with the first retail pilots in the U.S. to launch within the next year and a half.

“When we founded ReceiptHero over five years ago, we had to spend a lot of time heavily educating the market on what a digital receipt is,” ReceiptHero CEO Saku Pihlajaniemi said. “Fast forward to today we see a large amount of merchants inquiring about our service and they have a clear strategy on how they want to deploy digital receipts across their stores.”

Receipt Hero made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany. At the conference, the company showed how its API platform enables receipts to be created and distributed via a variety of channels. Business customers benefit from the compatibility between digital receipts and their accounting software. Individual customers get not only an enriched transaction list in their mobile banking app, but also the ability to have that transaction data used to enhance their app’s budgeting and spending tools.

This year has been a big partnership year for the Helsinki-based firm. The company began 2024 by integrating with Shopify, bringing digital receipts to the e-commerce platform. In March, ReceiptHero announced partnerships with Finnish retailer HalpaHalli, ceramics and textiles brand Pentik, and cashless payment solutions company CoreGo. More recently, the company teamed up with cash register and payment terminal solution Solmio-kassa, and TuloPOS, a point of sale and ordering system for the hospitality industry.

For more, check out our Finovate Global interview with ReceiptHero Chief Operating Officer Scott Moore.

Photo by Markus Winkler

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Ascend Money Lands $195 Million from MUFG

Ascend Money Lands $195 Million from MUFG
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Ascend Money has received a $195 million investment.
  • The funding round was led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Bank with contributions from Finnoventure Private Equity Trust I.
  • The Thailand-based fintech will use the funds to build inclusive financial services in the region.

Thailand-based Ascend Money announced this week it has received $195 million in funding from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Bank. The bank led the round, and Finnoventure Private Equity Trust I fund managed by Krungsri Finnovate Co. also contributed.

“This is a significant milestone for Ascend Money, which not only validates our commitment to innovation and financial inclusion in Thailand but also demonstrates a growing interest and confidence in Ascend Money’s potential,” said Ascend Money Founder and Chairman Suphachai Chearavanont.

Ascend Money anticipates the funds will help it accelerate its mission to provide inclusive financial services for underserved consumers and small businesses and ultimately foster economic growth and financial well-being in Thailand.

Ascend Money is Thailand’s largest digital financial services provider, with a presence in seven countries across Southeast Asia. The fintech’s TrueMoney platform offers e-payment, lending, BNPL, investment, and insurance. Ascend Money has 30 million active users in Thailand and serves its customers through its network of leading corporations, businesses, and merchants.

“MUFG considers the Asia Pacific its second home market, and as part of our commitment to this region, we have been making  strategic investments in leading digital finance players in the region,” said Senior Managing Corporate Executive, Head of Global Commercial Banking Business Group Yasushi Itagaki. “Ascend Money is a promising fintech player in Thailand with widespread penetration in the country’s consumer segment and deep understanding of their daily payments and financial requirements. With this investment,  we are making a significant contribution to the ongoing development of Thailand’s digital economy and financial inclusion, further underscoring MUFG’s commitment to the sustainable development of the country and the broader region as a whole.”

Ascend Money was founded in 2013 and has since processed $14 billion in the region. In 2021, the company received a $1.5 billion during its $150 million funding round.

“We are confident that Ascend Money’s strong growth trajectory, combined with MUFG’s expertise and network, will enable us to create a more inclusive and vibrant financial ecosystem to accelerate both regional and local digital transformation, benefiting millions of people and contributing to the country’s economic development,” said Chearavanont.

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Eight Alums Raised More Than $292 Million in Q2 2024

Eight Alums Raised More Than $292 Million in Q2 2024
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Quarterly Funding

“A little better all the time?” Can we use that classic refrain from Lennon & McCarthy to describe the performance of fintech companies seeking funding in the second quarter of 2024?

Most broad-based surveys of fintech funding for Q2 2024 have yet to be published. But, for our Finovate alums, “a little better” aptly describes the difference between Q2 of this year and Q2 of last. Our Finovate alums raised more than $292 million in the second quarter of this year, an increase of nearly 40% over last year’s Q2 mark. The accomplishment was completed by fewer alums this year compared to last, as well.

Previous quarterly comparisons

  • Q2 2023: More than $209 million raised by 10 alums
  • Q2 2022: More than $984 million raised by eight alums
  • Q2 2021: More than $2.8 billion raised by 14 alums
  • Q2 2020: More than $975 million raised by 15 alums

That said, the relatively low funding levels of the past two years are indicative of the broader slowdown in funding that fintechs have been experiencing of late. Again, we are looking forward to seeing some more reports from the field on fintech funding for the past few months, writ large. But, for now, the post-COVID retrenchment in fintech funding continues.

Top Equity Investments

  • Blend: $150 million
  • FintechOS: $60 million
  • SpyCloud: $35 million
  • Hawk: $30 million

The biggest alum fundraising of the quarter was the $150 million reeled in by Blend. A digital lending platform based in San Francisco, California, Blend made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016 and also participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley 2016. With total capital of $815 million, according to Crunchbase, Blend began this year with news that the publicly-traded company would join the Russell 2000 index.

Also noteworthy among fundraising alums in Q2 of 2024 was the $60 million secured by FintechOS. Headquartered in London, U.K., FintechOS offers a low-code platform that enables banks, insurers, and other financial services companies deliver a range of digital financial experiences for their customers. The company made its Finovate debut in 2021, demoing Sunglow, its Super App for Banking.

FintechOS has raised more than $151 million in funding. In February, the company reported year-over-year revenue growth of 40% for 2023.

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q2 2024.

April: More than $43 million raised by two alums

May: More than $150 million raised by two alums

June: More than $99 million raised by four alums

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the second quarter of 2024 and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Hawk Announces Series B Round Extension

Hawk Announces Series B Round Extension
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Fundings, Hawk:AI
  • Munich, Germany-based Hawk announced an extension of its Series B funding round this week.
  • The amount of the extension was not disclosed. But the anti-financial crime regtech said that the investment did increase its valuation.
  • Hawk made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2022.

Germany-based regtech Hawk announced an extension of its Series B funding round. The amount of the extension was not disclosed, but the company noted that the investment did significantly boost its valuation. The extension included funding from Rabo Investments, and also featured participation from existing investors BlackFin Capital Partners, Sands Capital, DN, Picus, and Coalition. Hawk will use the additional capital to fuel international growth and to help the firm meet growing demand for its AI-powered anti-financial crime solutions.

“We’re honored that Rabobank has recognized the significance of our technology and joins us in building a global market-leading enterprise, while also benefiting first-hand from our solutions and experience,” Hawk CEO Tobias Schweiger said. “I would also like to gratefully thank our existing investors for their ongoing support and look forward to continuing our partnership.”

Hawk, which rebranded from “Hawk AI” earlier this year, offers anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-the-financing-of-terrorism (CTF) technology that leverages explainable AI to detect more financial crime and reduce false positives. In fact, the company’s AI-powered technology delivers a 3x to 5x increase in risk detection and a 70% average reduction in the number of false positives. Banks, payments companies, and other financial services firms benefit from the ability to combine AML transaction monitoring, payment screening, and (Perpetual KYC) pKYC in a single solution that also includes powerful fraud prevention capabilities.

“Rabobank has been working with machine learning applications for many years,” Rabo Investments Managing Director Martijn Scholtes said. “What impressed us most about Hawk is that they’re delivering compelling results using explainable AI. Their advanced screening, detection, and monitoring capabilities align very well with our mission to build a more secure and robust financial ecosystem.”

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Hawk AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the company demoed its AML Surveillance Suite, which leverages traditional rule-based models and AI to provide financial institutions with next generation AML compliance. “AI should be used to achieve three major outcomes,” Hawk GM of North America Steve Liú explained at the event, “one, finding suspicious and risky behavior that peer rule systems simply cannot; two, decrease the number of false positives drastically by using behavioral profiling on top of existing rules; and third, that all of this is fully explainable for operators and auditors, and available to our users on a platform allowing for secure information sharing.”

Hawk began the year by appointing former HSBC executive Michael Shearer as its Chief Solution Officer. Less than a month later, the company introduced new APAC General Manager Robin Lee, formerly of Napier. In February, Hawk won the XCelent Advanced Technology 2024 award and, in May, the company earned a spot on the 2024 FinTech Global Fincrime Tech 50.

Photo by Leon

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SpyCloud Locks in $35 Million in New Financing

SpyCloud Locks in $35 Million in New Financing
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Fundings, SpyCloud
  • Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity firm SpyCloud has raised $35 million in financing.
  • The capital will be used to expand the company’s solutions to help businesses investigate and defend themselves against cybercrime in general and account takeover fraud in specific.
  • SpyCloud won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York.

In a round led by CIBC Innovation Banking, Texas-based cybersecurity company SpyCloud has secured $35 million in growth financing. The investment follows SpyCloud’s $110 million Series D fundraising from August 2023, and will be used to expand the firm’s solutions to help businesses investigate and defend themselves against financial crime.

“As the threat landscape continues to evolve, it’s imperative that digital identities are well protected since they’re the entry point for so many targeted attacks,” SpyCloud CEO and Co-Founder Ted Ross said. “Building automated solutions that combat cybercrime has been our vision since day one, and the financing we received from CIBC Innovation Banking will allow us to continue innovating and growing.”

SpyCloud’s total capital raised stands at more than $203 million, according to Crunchbase. CIBC Innovation Banking is the investment division of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

SpyCloud specializes in helping firms combat account takeover. The company’s platform scans and analyzes data from breaches, devices infected with malware, and the dark web to find employee login credentials that have been exposed. SpyCloud leverages this data to provide companies with actionable insights to enable them to blunt fraud losses, stop ransomware attacks, and fully investigate cybercrime incidents as they occur.

With customers ranging from Uber, Zscaler, and Samsonite to LendingTree, Canva, and the University of Oklahoma, SpyCloud recaptures 40 million exposed assets every week. The company’s technology seamlessly integrates into a variety of identity response and orchestration systems including Active Directory, Okta, Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk, and more.

Founded in 2016, SpyCloud won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company has more than 550 customers around the world and has recaptured more than 560 billion identity assets. This spring, SpyCloud released its 2024 SpyCloud Identity Exposure Report, which indicated that more than 60% of all data breaches in 2023 were malware related.

“Threat actors are linking together identity records from hundreds of sources to impersonate their victims,” SpyCloud Chief Product Officer explained, “making it extremely difficult for platforms to differentiate between legitimate users and criminals.”

To this end, the report indicates that there is plenty that individuals can do to make it harder for them to be the victim of stolen credentials. Foremost among these strategies is better password hygiene. SpyCloud recaptured nearly 1.8 billion passwords from dark web sources in 2023 alone – a year-over-year increase of more than 80%. Unfortunately, it is not difficult to see how. Beneath a subhead titled, “The U.S. government continues to struggle with bad password practices,” the report observed “the most common passwords associated with .gov emails were password, pass1, and 123456.”

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Torpago Lands $10 Million to Help Banks Launch Corporate Card Programs

Torpago Lands $10 Million to Help Banks Launch Corporate Card Programs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Torpago has received $10 million in Series B funding for its corporate card program for banks.
  • Priority Tech Ventures and EJF Ventures co-led the round.
  • Torpago will use the funds to address demand for its Powered By solution, the company’s white-label, end-to-end commercial credit card and expense management software platform.

Corporate card program provider Torpago announced yesterday it received $10 million in Series B funding. The investment was co-led by Priority Tech Ventures and EJF Ventures. BankTech Ventures and other existing investors also contributed.

Torpago will use the funds to address demand for its Powered By solution, the company’s white-label, end-to-end commercial credit card and expense management software platform. The solution is geared toward banks and, specifically, aims to help regional and community banks compete against fintechs and national institutions. Torpago will also use the funds to enhance implementation and compliance resources and expand its product suite.

“We’re at an inflection point where bank and credit union leaders are no longer seeing fintechs as competition, but rather as essential partners to support and modernize their offerings and infrastructure,” said Torpago CEO and Founder Brent Jackson. “The Series B is an opportunity for Torpago to continue our momentum in product innovation and expand our top-of-the-line service that becomes a game changer for banks and credit unions and their customers across the country.”

The company noted that its investors are “eager to continue working” with the company. Investors including EJF Ventures, BankTech Ventures, Assurant Ventures, NFL star David Bakhtiari, and others have served as strategic partners, helping with pipeline generation and commercial strategy. “In addition to providing capital and introducing Torpago to our ecosystem partners, we look forward to engineering an operating plan that accelerates Torpago’s path to profitability,” said Priority Technology Holdings Chairman and CEO Thomas Priore.

Today’s investment comes after a $6 million Series A round Torpago landed in 2023 and boosts the California-based company’s total funding to over $96 million.

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Insurtech Eleos Secures $4 Million in Seed Funding

Insurtech Eleos Secures $4 Million in Seed Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Eleos, Funding, Fundings
  • U.K.-based insurtech Eleos has secured $4 million in seed funding.
  • The round was led by Fuel Ventures and Indico Capital. Early-stage investor APX also participated.
  • Eleos made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope in London.

Eleos, an insurtech and income protection provider based in the U.K., has raised $4 million in seed funding. Fuel Ventures and Indico Capital led the round, with Berlin-based early-stage investor APX also participating. Eleos made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope in London.

“With our new funding we will launch more lines of insurance in the life and disability verticals and strike more distribution partnerships in the U.K.” Eleos CEO and Co-Founder Kiruba Eswaran said. “Part of the funding is also earmarked to launch operations in the U.S.”

Eleos embeds white-labelled life insurance and income protection into the online journeys of financial brands. These services and products give Eleos’s partners the ability to benefit from new revenue streams as well as more thorough customer engagement and greater customer retention. Eleos’s FCA authorization also provides its partners – companies like Loqbox, CreditSpring, and Updraft – with full regulatory coverage. Eleos customers also get a variety of free benefits, including 24/7 remote GP services and mental health support.

Fuel Ventures founder Mark Pearson credited Eleos for its experience, understanding of the industry, and access to a substantial market. “With Eleos we’ve found all three and we believe their products encapsulate our thinking about the insurance space – giving people easy access on familiar platforms.”

Founded in 2023, Eleos has already served more than 20,000 customers in the U.K. The company offers personalized and dynamic quotes for its insurance product, and enables potential customers to choose an affordable monthly payment plan and buy their insurance policy in minutes. Additionally, Eleos’s income protection solution helps individuals cover their essential expenses in the event of an illness or injury that requires long-term sick leave. Currently offering embedded insurance for brands, Eleos is planning to offer insurance policies directly to individuals in the future.

“The insurtech market has plenty of room to grow and Eleos is targeting areas which are not only sizable but overlooked by other current players globally,” Indico Capital Partners Managing General Partner Stephan Morais said.

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FintechOS Lands $60 Million for its Core Modernization Technology

FintechOS Lands $60 Million for its Core Modernization Technology
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, FintechOS, Funding
  • FintechOS received a $60 million investment, boosting its total funding to over $151 million.
  • FintechOS will use the new funds to accelerate its global expansion.
  • In the announcement, FintechOS revealed it experienced 40% year-over-year revenue growth in 2023 and said it expects to break even in 2024.

Financial product management platform FintechOS recently announced it received a $60 million Series B+ investment, boosting its total funding to more than $151 million. Molten Ventures, Cipio Partners, and BlackRock led the round, while existing investors EarlyBird VC, OTB VC, and Gapminder VC also contributed.

FintechOS serves up technology that helps organizations launch and manage financial products and services without having to replace their existing core infrastructure. The company offers low-code/ no-code tools to help organizations extend the capabilities of their existing core, launch new products, improve their customer experience, and optimize back-office workflows across lending, savings, insurance, investment, and embedded finance operations.

While FintechOS will use the funds to accelerate its global expansion, the New York-based company has already made significant progress towards global growth. The company operates globally, with a presence in Europe, North America, and Asia. FintechOS is available in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, and others.

“Securing this investment is a testament to the confidence our investors have in our vision and execution,” said FintechOS Co-founder and CEO Teo Blidarus. “Our rapid growth and operational improvements reflect the demand for our next-generation financial product management solutions. We are revolutionizing the financial services industry by providing technology that enables core modernization and drives innovation.”

Since Blidarus co-founded FintechOS in 2017, the company experienced 40% year-over-year revenue growth in 2023 and has seen a 170% increase in operating margins. The company expects to break even in 2024. Following its recent $15 million funding round in early 2022, FintechOS has achieved over 300% growth, expanding its client base to 50 global clients. This growth includes high-profile additions such as Société Générale, Admiral, Benenden Health, Avant Money, and Vibrant Credit Union.

“FintechOS’s growth trajectory is a clear indicator of their potential,” said Cipio Partners Managing Partner Roland Dennert. “We are delighted to be part of this journey and look forward to seeing the transformative impact they will make in the financial services sector. Their commitment to modernization and innovation aligns perfectly with our investment strategy.”

As organizations struggle to adapt to changing consumer expectations and new technologies while maintaining their legacy core infrastructure, technologies such as FintechOS’ will see increasing growth. That’s because many traditional players in the space continue to operate using old computer languages such as COBOL, which was developed in 1959 and does not interface easily with modern fintech solutions.

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Relay Raises $32 Million to Help Small Businesses with Cashflow

Relay Raises $32 Million to Help Small Businesses with Cashflow
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Small business banking platform Relay raised $32.2 million in a Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures.
  • Relay will use today’s funds to further develop products in spend management, smart credit products, and its financial API marketplace.
  • Relay recently unveiled a commercial credit card offering and plans to launch a line of credit.

Small business banking and money management platform Relay raised $32.2 million this week. The Series B financing round, which was  led by Bain Capital Ventures brings the company’s total funding to $51.6 million. 

Today’s round also includes contributions from new investor Industry Ventures, as well as previous contributors BTV, Garage, and Tapestry. “Relay’s been on an incredible trajectory, even as others in the industry have had to pivot and find new footing,” said Bain Capital Ventures Partner Kevin Zhang. “We were eager to get behind Relay again as the company enters its next stage of growth and doubles down on the unique needs of the SMB market.”

Relay was founded in 2018 to help small businesses owners build healthy businesses by better understanding and managing their cashflow. Through its partnership with Thread Bank, the company offers business checking and savings accounts, accounts payable tools, receipt management, and– most recently– a credit card for select users. Relay also said that its launch of a line of credit offering is “slated to come.”

“68% of U.S. small business owners have cash flow problems. They worry about making payroll and mission-critical bills but lack the tools to truly address these existential threats,” said Relay Co-founder and CEO Yoseph West. “Relay gives them cash flow clarity and control—what SMBs need to sustainably fuel everyday operations—by pairing financial services with software and making banking work harder for them.”

Relay will use today’s funds to further develop products in spend management, smart credit products, and its financial API marketplace. The company believes these developments will help it achieve its goal of delivering AI-powered predictive cash flow analytics to SMBs.

Relay saw its revenues rise by 3x in 2022 and by almost 6x in 2023. While the company has not released user numbers, Relay revealed that business owners log into its platform 13 times per month, and of the clients that use Relay as their primary account, 40% log in daily.

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Aeropay Lands $20 Million to Fuel Pay-by-Bank

Aeropay Lands $20 Million to Fuel Pay-by-Bank
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Aeropay raised $20 million in new funding for its pay-by-bank technology.
  • The round, which boosts Aeropay’s total funding to $25 million, was led by Group 11.
  • Aeropay also announced the launch of Aerosync, the company’s internally developed bank aggregator.

Chicago-based payments company Aeropay announced today it has landed $20 million in new funding. The Series B round, which boosts the company’s total funds to $25 million, was led by venture capital firm Group 11 and saw participation from Chicago Ventures and Continental Investment Partners.

Aeropay was founded in 2017 to help businesses move money in a faster, less expensive way using Aerosync, the company’s internally developed pay-by-bank technology. Launching today, Aerosync is Aeropay’s bank aggregator that enables customizable integrations via open APIs.

“Payments in most verticals operate on archaic systems filled with excessive fees and risks,” said Aeropay Founder and CEO Daniel Muller. “We’ve built a bank-driven payments network that protects businesses against fraud, saves them money, and gives their customers an easy way to pay. Put simply, we are building the next-generation payments network.”

Aeropay will use the funds to expand into new markets, including financial services, wellness, utilities, QSR, and property management. The investment will also help fuel new product offerings, build on strategic partnerships, and explore new opportunities.

“For years, we’ve searched for a company advanced enough to solve the pains and inefficiencies of the card payment market, arguably the last bastion of the traditional financial services industry,” said Group 11 Founding Partner Dovi Frances. “Aeropay has tackled the most complex technological and compliance challenges, making them the most likely player to seize upon this massive addressable market.”

Pay-by-bank has seen rising popularity across the globe in the past few years, as open banking fuels new possibilities. The technology holds the promise of reducing transaction fees for retailers. End consumers, however, may remain skeptical of pay-by-bank’s security and user friendliness.

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